News

SZOKE TAKES FIFTH STRAIGHT PODIUM AT AMP

August 8, 2011

SHUBENACADIE, N.S. – Jordan Szoke kept his bid for an unprecedented eighth Canadian Superbike Championship by Parts Canada title alive at the fifth round of the seven-race series at Atlantic Motorsport Park last Sunday.

The Brantford, Ont. racer picked up his fourth straight runner-up finish and fifth podium result of the year on the Competition Systems Kawasaki Race Team Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja.

“I think this was the best weekend we’ve had,” said the 31-year-old Szoke. “The whole team is gelling so well and it seems to be easy to get the bike working. I’m feeling really comfortable on our ZX-10R Ninja.”

Despite placing second in the pre-qualifying session on Saturday morning, Szoke was able to find almost a tenth of a second in the afternoon’s SuperPole session, claiming the top starting spot with a time of 1:07.359 around the 2.56km AMP track.

“To be honest, we made lots of changes during practice and we had a good program this morning,” Szoke said. “I did a few more laps than usual in the SuperPole warm-up and the bike felt really good. I’m actually mad at myself because I thought I left a lot on the table. I think if I’d had a second lap I could have gone way quicker. The speed seemed to come pretty easily.”

Szoke was third off the start of Sunday’s 22-lap Superbike feature race but grabbed second spot before the end of the opening lap. That’s as far as his progress would take him, however, although he was under no pressure from behind by the fourth lap.

“I was really looking forward to the race,” Szoke said afterward. “I had a bad start, but that didn’t seem to matter. I was making a few little mistakes here and there and that cost me time over the course of the race.”

The Canadian Superbike Championship by Parts Canada season wraps up with a doubleheader at Mosport International Raceway on August 19-21. Szoke is 55 points out of the Superbike class lead as he bids for a record sixth straight national title. He has a long history of success at Mosport, having taken five of the last six Superbike national wins at the world famous track in Bowmanville, Ont.

“Jordan loves Mosport and has a great track record there, so we’re very optimistic going into the final two rounds,” said Mike Crompton of the Competition Systems Kawasaki Race Team. “I think Jordan’s confidence level along with the continued progress we’ve made with this new ZX-10R Ninja through the course of the summer should put us in an excellent position to pick up a couple of victories.”

The Competition Systems Kawasaki Race Team would like to thank the following sponsors for making their 2011 racing effort possible: